Victoria Arbiter: The significance of Remembrance Sunday on the royal calendar

As clocks around the UK strike 11 tomorrow morning, Britain will come to a standstill. Buses and trains will halt, people will pause and a hush will descend as the country observes a two-minute silence in commemoration of those who lost their lives in the two world wars and later conflicts.

Remembrance Sunday, held on the second Sunday in November, is perhaps the most important date on the royal calendar.

Each year the Queen (the last remaining head of state to have served in uniform during World War II) leads the tributes as political party leaders, representatives from the armed forces, religious leaders, members of the royal family and the public gather to honour the fallen.

In what has become an increasingly hostile climate, thanks in part to Brexit, the occasion affords a rare moment of national unity.

The origins of Remembrance Sunday harken back to Armistice Day 1919, when mourners assembled at war memorials, and processions featuring veterans and dignitaries were staged in order to commemorate the one year anniversary of the peace agreement which put an end to World War I.

The Armistice, declaring a cease in hostilities, was signed by the Allies and Germany on 11 November, 1918. It took effect at 11 o'clock in the morning – "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month".

A few months later on 8 May, 1919, The London Evening News reportedly published a letter from an Australian journalist, Edward George Honey. His missive proposed a respectful silence be marked to remember those who had given their lives in the First World War. The suggestion was brought to the attention of King George V, who embraced the idea with enthusiasm.

On 7 November, 1919, The Times of London carried a message from the King in which he said, "All locomotion should cease, so that, in perfect stillness, the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead."

In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the government of the day met to discuss how Armistice Day should be observed moving forwards. Some felt that by continuing to hold it on 11 November, focus would remain on the casualties of the First World War and those who perished in the Second might be forgotten.

A number of alternative dates were considered before the Archbishop of Westminster suggested the second Sunday in November be named Remembrance Sunday in commemoration of both World Wars.

Over the course of her reign, the Queen has missed only six of the Remembrance Day ceremonies held at the Cenotaph on Whitehall.

She was absent in 1959 and 1963 while pregnant with her two youngest children, Andrew and Edward. She was in the midst of overseas tours on the other four occasions — Ghana in 1961, Brazil in 1968, Kenya in 1983 and South Africa in 1999 — but wreaths were still laid on her behalf.

Prince Charles lays a wreath at the Cenotaph on behalf of Her Majesty, 2017. (Getty)

In 2017, Buckingham Palace announced the Queen had asked Prince Charles to lay her wreath while she watched the proceedings from the balcony of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office building alongside her husband and former serviceman, Prince Philip.

It was the first time she'd attended the event without laying a wreath which inevitably led to speculation of her plans to abdicate. All nonsense, of course — the Queen was simply acknowledging the physical limitations of her age. Laying a heavy wreath in cold weather before walking backwards down two steps while the eyes of the world look on is a rather perilous undertaking at the age of 91. Handing over duties to her son and heir was a sensible decision.

Last year's ceremony marked the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and the signing of the Armistice Treaty.

At the invitation of the Queen and on the advice of her government, Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier placed a wreath at the foot of the Cenotaph on behalf of the German people. It was the first time a German representative had been welcomed to do so.

Once again, Prince Charles laid his mother's wreath while she paid her respects from her spot on the balcony flanked either side by the Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge.

Now into her tenth decade, few would object if the Queen chose to watch from the comfort of her private rooms at Buckingham Palace, but she wouldn't dream of it. As Head of the Armed Forces, Head of the Church of England and a veteran herself, she remains determined to conduct her bow in person to those who died for as long as she's able.

Once the wreaths have been laid, the Bishop of London leads a solemn service of remembrance before "the nation's thank you" gets underway. As the massed bands play, the parade of veterans organized by the Royal British Legion begins. Clad in medals and applauded by huge crowds as they go, hundreds of veterans proudly march-past the Cenotaph. It's a sight that never fails to move and inspire.

A painfully ignorant young man recently said on Good Morning Britain, "Instead of focusing so much on our history (WWII) and holding onto the past we can let it go a little bit and replace it with a subject that is going to be beneficial to us in the future. (Something) more relevant."

The Queen has missed only six of the Remembrance Day ceremonies held at the Cenotaph. (Getty)

An estimated 50 million people lost their lives during the Second World War alone. Nothing could be more relevant to our future than their sacrifice which granted us the freedoms we enjoy today. Our privileges are great, but our debts even greater.

This weekend we remember them. We remember the pain they endured, the fear they braved, the trauma they bore and the lives they gave.

As English poet and dramatist Robert Laurence Binyon once wrote, "They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn." For us and for future generations, their loss will always be relevant.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them."